21.3.14

The Unheard Voices of Sierra Madre

Plain.
Repetitive. Humble.

This
is how I would describe the life in a community in Sierra Madre Mountains near
General Nakar, Quezon. It doesn’t have any tourist attraction, nor does
anything we wouldn’t have seen in any other province in the Philippines. But
this is where my life-changing story happened.

I am
raised in Bukidnon. As I grow up, I find myself always pacing away from home. I
studied in different cities just to find out the meaning of what they call
‘difference’. I even went as far as New York only to find the pieces of the
answer I’m looking for. But the question-at-large remains - what exactly will I
be doing for the rest of my life?

It
was in the year 2012 when I got the answer. I was then shortlisted as one of
the 20 National Finalists to DENSO Youth Earth Action, an international
environmental youth program and project proposal competition on environment. 20
eco-warriors from different places in the Philippines travelled all the way to
Laguna for Mother Earth.

The
day of immersion came. It was just an hour winding bus ride from the resort to
the top of the mountain range. The view was breathtaking. There were fogs
everywhere and we seem to be higher than the clouds. And the stillness of the
road where we took off perfectly complements the silence that surrounds us,
allowing us to appreciate the nature around.

After
a series of picture taking, we started trudging the path down the mountains. I
was wearing slippers for the trek because I don’t have any trekking sandals
that time. Along the way, we have found many rare plants in the biodiversity
such as the carnivorous pitcher plant. We have also met some locals who are
heading upwards, bringing some of their produce to sell them to the market.

It
took us about 2 hours to reach the river that we can see from above. In the
river, there was only one ‘banca’ (‘small boat’) that can cater around 3-4
people. We have to cross this wide and deep river to reach our target
community. It was a scary ride because we don’t have any vests and it’s also
very windy. The good thing is that the ‘bankeros’ (‘boat paddlers’) were
experts already in managing the ‘banca’ so they already know how to go across
the waves.

By
the time we reached the other side, we took another short trek to reach the
community where we will be having our immersion. Our final leg is the school
located just a distance away from some houses.

The
parents of the children who were studying in the elementary school welcomed us.
We were then divided into different groups. Each group was assigned a certain
task and such was done in rotation to expose all of us into the different kinds
of activities. We were all working to find and prepare food for our lunch.

The
first task for our group was the harvesting of shrimps in the river. I got
amazed with how the locals prepare the harvesting basket and make it efficient.
They just place the harvesting baskets in different points in the river. When we were already looking for the baskets,
we were amazed with the number of shrimps that were trapped. It was very
resourceful. And then we climbed a ‘Santol’ tree to get some ripe fruits.

At
the same time, my other friends were gathering coconut, picking vegetables from
the garden and many other things. That was one of the best lunches I could ever
remember. A talk with the locals and eating real food from the ‘bukid’ is just
so heartwarming.

In
the afternoon, we learned other activities that the community is doing. We
plowed the rice field and we also learned about vermi-composing and bio-intensive
gardening. They feed the produced vermi as a fertilizer in their bio-intensive
garden. The organic garden serves as their source of food, as well as economic
produce to the market.

After
doing these activities, we called out all the children and we played with them.
We did a role-playing activity and it was just very amazing how the children
were very warm and participative. We gave them snacks after that, which were
just a piece of cake and a juice. I can
see the smiles in their faces and the sparks in their eyes.

While
some of them started trudging their paths from the school, two young boys,
probably aged 10, approached me. One of
them was a bit shy, and the other boy broke the silence. “Salamat, kuya ha”, (“Thank
you, big brother”) uttered the young boy with a barely innocent face. I asked
him, “Sa’n ba ang bahay niyo?” (“Where is your house?”) And he told me, “Malayo
pa, sa ikatatlong bundok galing dito” (“It’s far, about 3 mountains from here”).
Then, I never answered back. It’s not because of the fact that I know how it
feels to walk miles just to have access even to the bottom of the social
development ladder. It’s because I realized how blessed I am when I kept on
looking at what’s lacking. How can a young boy, pure at heart, be so grateful
just for having a little bit of my time and a piece of cake?

Then
they started leaving in the dusk until I could only see their smallest shadows.
But they left me sobbing for realizing how grateful I should be. In that moment, right
there, I promised to myself with certainty that I will go back to that place
and help them in the future. At the same time, I promised that I would continue
doing social-development work for as long as it could be. I know it’s a
heartbreak conference. Some people might never even be able to understand. But
at least there, even if it’s small and humble, I’m making a ‘difference’.